Mixture-modifying auxiliary for internal-combustion engines.



E. l. WIGGINS.

Mlxune MODIFYING AuxlLlAHY FOR |NTERNAL c olwusloN ENGINES.

APPLICATION FlLED DEC. 14. 1916.

Patented July 17, 191'?.

IIEDWARDJ. WIGGJINS, F CHICAGO, JILLINOIS, A SSIGNOR T0 DAVID ALBERTHEYMAN,

0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MIXTURE-IVIODIFYING- AUXILIARY FOB. INTERNAL-COMBUSTION' ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ratentea any it, lair.

Application led December 14, 1916. Serial No. 136,939.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that ll, EDWARD J. WIGGINS,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State 5.-of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Mixture-Modifying.

Auxiliaries for Internal-Combustion lEngines, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to a mixture-modifying auxiliary for internalcombustion enl gines and has for its general object to .pro-

vide a simple,` inexpensive and efficient means for introducing into themixture l5. passage that leads to the cylinder intake an auxiliarySupply of heated air and for supplying heat to the fuelv mixture, allunder conditionstending to minimize the component of fuel or hydrocarbonrequisite` for proper operation of the engine-and also' to enablelower-grade gasolene to'be elliciently used than would be satisfactory'without such auxiliary.

lln thedrawing wherein l have shown a single embodiment'of my inventionfor purposes. of disclosure, but without intent to limit my invention,in its broader aspects, to the details thereofl y Figure l showsconventionally fragments of an engine equipped with a mixture modif fieraccording to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectipn through the device on line 2-2 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. 0f the engine parts 10represents a multiple cylinder head, 11 an intake manifold in'Il'-communication with a mixture-pipe or conduit 12 that leads lfrom acarbureter (not shown) and 13 represents an exhaust manifold connectingwith exhaust conduit 14.

ln the intake conduit, between carbureter and intake port, andpreferably near the intake openings, ll locate the shell of the mixturemodifier 15-preferably at the 'll'- juncture of the manifold 11 and pipe12,-

so that parts of the fuel modifier projecting into the mixture passagemaybe posi- 13, so that in operation the shell may opening check valve4G.

phere to the mixture conduit, and heating mea-ns, receivinghigh-temperature gases from the exhaust conduit and arranged withrespect to the air tube to heat the inflowin'g air to high degree, aswell as to heat the mixture in the mixture passage materially.

Specifically, the shell-body y16, that is preferably a stout casting,screws into the intake manifold, as at 17, and the shell-nose 18,end-closed as at 19, extends into the mixture-passage. The'nose ispreferably thin-walled and its cylindrical bore 20 extends back througha thickened part 21 of the'body and expands as at 22, within a. flaringpart 23 of the shell, into an enlarged reception-chamber 24 contained ina shell part 25 of largest diameter. A threaded lateralstud 27 has aninlet passage 28 to the reception chamber and receives an appropriatepipe 29, secured thereto by a gland-nut 30, said pipe leading from asuitable' openV connection 31 with .exhaust pipe l receive exhaustgases. A Yscrew-threaded shellhead 32 closes the outward v'end of there- `ception chamber 24 and has therein a threadedv orifice 33 openingto a. circular chamber 34 that communicates with lateral outlet passage35. lGases flowing from inlet 28 to outlet 35 are directed into theshell-nose by a bathe-cylinder 36 that is threaded into head-orifice 33for support and extends, concentrically with the wall of shell-bore 20and spaced therefrom, to an open end 37 near the end wall 19 of theshell-nose, the Acylinder-bore 38 opening to bore 20 of the shell.l

The air-tube 40 extendsaxially through baflle cylinder 3G and theshell-nose to project at opposite ends as a delivery terminal 42 withinthe mixture-passage and an inlet terminal 43 for communicating with theoutside air.

Preferably the air tube is threaded as at 44 into the end wall 19 of theshellsnose and is slip-fitted in the wall of head 32, the deliveryrend42 being apertured as at 45 in tiny jet-openings vand its inlet end 43preferably bearing an adjustable, inwardly A cap 48, having avalve-seated opening 49, adjustably threaded as at 50 on the tube-end,and held in adjusted position by a spring finger 51,

incases a conical valve'52 acted on byspring y53 that bearsagainst thetube end, as a satchamber 34 and outlet 35 for final escape. As theexhaust gas venters the reception chamber itsvvelocity is reduce and itsresidence in such chamber facilitates the deposit 'of such carbonparticles as are being carried along in this easily accessible andreadily cleaned chamber. Entering the annular longitudinal passages ofreduced sectionthe gas travels at higher velocity and tendsjto give upits heat particularly at the back turn in the nose of the shell, andthroughout the restricted annular passages the gas velocit .tends tokeep the walls swept clean of.- carbon. .This arrangement, affording atortuous path with areas of different cross section, decreasing insuccessive steps, also i tends to minimization of the exhaust noise andthe nal muiiier chamber 34 wherein the gas may slowdown, enables it tofind egress without producing objectionable sound.-

It will be apparent that the projection of the heating nose 20 in theairpipeend into the mixture conduit of an engine-if ythe conduit bescientifically proportioned at all points for equal and necessarycapacitymust diminish somewhat the conduit area and so tend to throttlethe engine, but the heating effect ofthe nose so expands and volatilizesthe passing mixture as to compensate materially for the throttling. Thedirect contact of the mixture with the projecting'nose extending wellintol the mixture conduit insures a vhighly desirable application of theheating effect, furthered, to a degree, by the tendency of the iowingmixture to eddy in proximity 'to -the projecting portion of the heater.Theprojecting nose,

readily maintained ata temperature in exl cess of the distillation pointof the gasolene,"

tends to crack even low grade gasolene, so as to insure its completevaporization and thus to give to the mixture an effectiveness that,

in the absence of such heating, would require a greater richness. Thebenefits of this direct heating are augmented bythe vintroduction intothe fuel mixture at this point of maximumv heating Iof hot air that isdrawn in past the valve 52 on each suction stroke of lthe engine and israised to high temperature during its traverse ofthe air tube 40 and isjet distributed through the openings 45, into the mixture passage in aheated and lexpanded state. The mixture is thus made leanercoincidentally with its-heating, so

that the modification of fuel mixture for increased volatilization, heatexpansion, and augmented oxygen content, all tends to preventcondensation of the hydrocarbon content and to present conditionsfavoring minimization of the hydrocarbon content of the .mixture'requisite for a desired activity of article for manufacture and salereadily applicable to many and varied types of engines, and givingrequisite ease of attachment and facility for cleaning, do not requiredetail comment'. j

It will be apparent that many changes may be made in details ofconstruction with- 'out departure from the spirit of my invention'within the scope of the appended claims.

-Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A mixture-modifier,for a gas engine having a 'mixture conduit and an exhaust conduit,comprising a chambered shell having a threaded end screwed into a sideopening ofthe mixture conduit to heat the mixture therein, said shellhaving an exhaustgas-receptive connection with the exhaust conduit andan'escape-opening; and an aux- -iliary air-tube'traversing the heatedchamber of the shell,'opening at opposite ends to the atmosphere andthrough the end of the shell to the mixture-conduit.

2. A mixture-modifier, `for a gas engine having a mixture conduit' andan exhaust conduit, `comprising a chambered shell having a threaded endscrewed into a side opening of the mixture conduit to heat the mixturetherein, said shell having an exhaustgas-receptive connection with theexhaust .conduit and an escape-opening; and an auxiliary` air-tubetraversing the heated chambe'r of the shell, said tube havingionc endarranged for communication with the outside air and a finely perforatedsprayingend opening to the mixture conduit.

3.. A mixture-modifier, -for a gas engine having a mixture conduit andan exhaust conduit, comprising a shell attached to the mixture conduitand inclosing a heating chamber arranged to heat the mixture in theconduit, said shell having .an exhaustgas-receptive connection with theexhaust conduit and an escape opening; an auxiliaryy I conduit,comprising a shell having 'a chambered portion projecting into themixtureconduit said chambered portion having a receptive connection withthe exhaust conduit and an outlet opening, an air-tube traversing aheated portion of said shell and opening to the air and to the mixtureconduit, and means within the shell for directing into the projectingchambered portion the exhaust gases in passing from the re-l ceptiveconnection to the outlet.

6. A .device of the character described comprising a shell having ahollow body, and a detachable head, there being an exhaust-gas receptiveinlet opening to one said part and an outlet opening from the other,means for attaching said body to the mixture conduit, an air tubetraversing the body and head and opening beyond opposite ends thereof,and a baffle cylinder interposed between the inlet and outlet openingsof the body, encircling the air tube andspaced therefrom, and dividingthe body space into longitudinal annular passages communicating withLeach other around an end of said baffle cylinder.

7. ln a device of the character described the combination of a shellhaving a body chambered lengthwise and a `detachable head, there beingan exhaust receptive inlet opening in one said part and an outletopening in the other, said body provided with means for attaching it toa mixture conduit, an air tube carried by thebody and slip fitted withthe head and opening at its ends beyond both the body and the head, anda detachable baffle cylinder encircling the air tubel extending from thehead nearly to the opposite end of the body, dividing the body spacearound the air tube into a plurality of annular passages communicatingwith each other beyond the end of said baiile cylinder and respectivelycommunicating with the said inlet and outlet.

8. A mixture modifier for gas engines comprising a shell-body having anenlarged reception chamber 4communicating with an inlet for exhaustgases and having an elongated cylindrical bore, an air tube extendinglitt through said body and opening beyond both ends thereof, a baiiecylinder open at its inner end surrounding the air tube and spaced fromboth the air tube and the shell bore and a shell-head having an outletopening `communicating with the interior of the baille cylinder. l

9. A mixture modier for gas engines comprising a shell, means forattachment thereof to an intake conduit, an air tube carried thereby andopening to said conduit, means dividing the shell space around the airtube into a tortuous passage having portions of different diameters,there being an outlet opening, and an inlet opening connectible with anvexhaust conduit, at opposite ends of said tortuous passage. a

110. A mixture modifier for gas engines comprising a hollow shell havingan end portion adapted to project intov a mixture conduit, means forconnecting said shell with a mixture conduit, and openings for the entryand escape of exhaust gases in the shell, and an air tube extendinglongitudinally through said shell and having openings for communicationwith the outside air and with the interior of the conduit beyond theshell end. p

11. A fuel modifier for a gas engine having a mixture conduit and anexhaust conduit comprising a shell having a threaded portion forengagement with a threaded side-opening in to the mixture conduit, meansfor conducting exhaust gases from the exhaust conduit to said shell andan auxiliary air supply passage carried by said shell to be heated bythe exhaust gases, said air passage having communication with theoutside air and with the interior of the mixture conduit. j

12. A mixture modifier for a gas engine having a mixture conduit and anexhaust conduit, comprising a shell having a chambered portionprojecting into the mixture conduit, said shell having anexhaust-receptive connection with the exhaust conduit and an outletopening, a baffle within said cham'- ber for directing the gases intothe projecting part of the shell, and an air tube associated with theshell and opening at opposite ends to the mixture conduit and outside ofthe modifier.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses. j

EDWARD J. WIGGINS. In the presence 01"- S'rANLm7 W. COOK, MARY Y. ALLEN.

